Archived thread 307762 from Northeastern Team - US. Markdown source: Northeastern_Team_-_US/thread_307762_Ubuntu_Distribution_Think_Tank_Thread.md
For all Team members I would like for us to Brain Storm on the most effective ways we can make a difference in the distribution and marketing of Ubuntu....
As stated in other threads I leave CD's at a local Bookstore in downtown DC, and also distribute through the Hillel at my wife's University...
What are ways you find most effective,...are what are your ideas?
Maybe supply free cd's to those self-built PC's(not sure what its called, cloned PC?) that don't come with an OS installed.
Offer edubuntu to kindergartens :D
Cheers, Kinson
Well I have been doing this for some time not necessarily with Ubuntu but with open source software in general. I Geocache and I usually leave Linux discs or Open Office and other software in the caches. Funny thing is they don't tend to last long before being picked up. Not a way to distribute quantities but I like to think at least it might get someone to try an alternative.
I think ubuntu needs to make handling raw software packages easier. I find that this is a big problem for users (especially new). Although programs like GDebi have made it a lot easier to just download and double click on software packages for them to install, I find that alot of applications inwhich are precompiled dont have a deb, most of them only offer rpm's and frankly that rpm->deb doesnt work well at all, I always have problems with programs like Limewire and several others. They just planely don't work.
The second problem I find is that ALOT of software packages out there are in raw uncompiled forms and alot of the time its a HUGE hassle even for skilled users to install source packages. I think it would be a good idea to have a GUI which will take tar.gztar.bz2 source packages, then try to self-compile and install it, and if it needs dpendencies, to search the repository for the appropriate package needed by the program. If ubuntu could accomplish that then I think alot more people would be making the switch to linux, because that was probably my biggest difficulty with linux when I first started using it about a year or two ago. I also see alot of my friends having the same problem, and the source packages problem is something myself and I think a boat load of other people have aswell.
Main Idea: To have a package installer GUI that will take raw software packages from download and choose the appropriate action inorder to get them installed. This means, either take a deb and install it (already currently supported by default in Edgy, not sure about Dapper), take an RPM and convert it to a DEB, or take a source package attempt to compile it and if dependencies are required then get the dependencies from the repository and make && make install the package.
I would be interested in working on a project like that.
kinson said: Maybe supply free cd's to those self-built PC's(not sure what its called, cloned PC?) that don't come with an OS installed.
yeah, like newegg.com, that's really popular. if you could somehow get newegg to offer ubuntu cd's with some of their computers, that would really help.
but i can't see how you would get a company like that to go along with it...